The Upside of the Global Economic Slowdown

The global information-technology services industry is still feeling pressure from lingering economic uncertainty in Europe and Asia, but a senior executive at Indian software exporter HCL Technologies Ltd. says the tough economic climate has actually brought some positive changes because companies around the world are becoming “more familiar with uncertainties.”

Companies are starting to hold a realistic view on the economic outlook, and that often makes them more decisive and clear about what they are willing to spend on and what they are not, said HCL Technologies Vice Chairman Vineet Nayar on the sidelines of The Wall Street Journal’s Unleashing Innovation conference being held in Singapore this week.

“When customers are more decisive, whether their answer is yes or no, that makes things more productive,” Mr. Nayar said.

For IT services providers, dealing with more decisive customers saves time and money because they don’t have to prepare many proposals for long negotiations that in the end may not result in deals, Mr. Nayar said.

“When people have a lot of conversations about hopes, those conversations don’t result in decisions,” which means the amount of effort that goes into putting together solutions and proposals could be wasted, he said.

India’s IT sector saw a slowdown in demand for most of 2012, hurt by the economic woes that pressured their clients to cut back or hold their investments in technology projects.

“In 2008 there was shock, in 2010 there was hope, and then in 2011 there was despair,” said Mr. Nayar. “Now, people are coming to terms with the fact that uncertainty won’t go away any time soon.”